Saturday, March 2, 2013

Vegan List of Foods for Grocery Stores

This is a list I wrote from requests of many vegans (actually most of them were vegetarians, but all the food listed is vegan) of foods we would like to see carried in our grocery stores. Currently, we must travel a minimum of 35 miles to the next large town to find some of these items, so I emailed our group for their most wanted items. Now that I have the list I am going around to our two Walmarts, 4 Krogers, our Country Nutrition and possibly our new County Market, speaking with the Produce Manager and presenting the list! Even if we do not get in any more items, we will have shown we are growing and there will be even more desire in the future.

I decided to share this list, as some of you might want to take this list or a similar one around. One of the things I do point out to the Produce Managers is when they carry a product that like a cheese that says "Lactose Free" and is called "Veggie Cheese" but is not vegan! I flip the cheese packet over and show them the ingredients label with "casein and milk derived ingredient " listed right on the back. It's a learning experience for them, and so far the Produce Managers welcome my ideas, even though Produce Managers at stores like Walmart have only a set list that they can order from. They still have promised to send my list "up the ranks."

The one product all stores already carry is Earth Balance, so that is not on this list.

Here is the list:

_______________________________________________________

The starred items (*) are what seem to be the most requested. **Vegenaise, bouillons, organic products, the chicken filet, the sausage, cereal, yeast and the cheeses got two stars because they are by far the most wanted.

LIST OF FOODS VEGANS WOULD LIKE TO SEE IN STORES IN A SEPARATE VEGAN AND VEGETARIAN SECTION!

2 comments:

I've actually taken empty and cleaned packaged or cartons to the manager to ask that they supply "this" product. I dunno --- Sometimes I think they just trash it - But it's worth a try.

Here's a quiz for you --- Of all the huge grocery chains and super centers that like think they carry "everything". Ever notice how except for Whole Foods no one (that I've seen) carries such simple, shelf-stable items as TVP or nutritional yeast? I just don't get it. I think they are really short sighted as to what the public does indeed look for. Anyway - Good thought. Great post! Appreciate your handy list. ;)

About Me

I became an atheist thanks to YouTube! For years I hovered between having a God, being "spiritual" and being agnostic - in fact, most of my life. There was only a short period of time when I was a Jesus Freak along with my brother, but I did not fit in with his group. I attended a religious college for two years and felt like the "odd woman out" there as well. One day on the main page of AOL there was a picture of Kirk Cameron and another picture of a pretty young blond woman with curly long hair and a cute little chin. They said she got more "hits" on YouTube than Kirk did! Of course, it was Zomgitscriss! I watched her video and thought, "You know, I think like she does, but she is a lot smarter than I am!" I watched more of her videos, and she said it was just a hop, skip and jump from agnosticism to atheism. I thought, "Oh, I could never be an atheist - it's such a harsh word!" I decided to look at her favorites and saw a big guy with long hair who looked like he belonged in a motorcycle gang. I smirked and thought, "This will be good - let's see what he has to say," thinking he had to sound dumb. It turned out to be Aron Ra, and I was treated to video after video about evolution, taxonomy and phylogeny - subjects I knew nothing about! What an education! One day, I clicked on Pangeaprogress' videos. I saw his beautiful nature videos of Africa. Suddenly, a pack of lions surrounded an antelope and started eating her, slowly, starting at the hips and wherever they could bite. I was totally shocked. I had been overprotected a good share of my life, and my mother always told me that animals "always went right for the neck and the death was over in an instant." Well, it wasn't. From that moment on, I was an atheist. No God could sit by and watch such cruelty and pain and suffering and allow it to happen. No excuses. This is how YouTube converted me, and my eyes have been opened to so many new ideas thanks to the Internet!